Lunacy, anarchy, drastic violence and stealth tactics wrapped in absurd amounts of pixelblood and psychedelic electro. You can love this game. You can damn it into the deepest hell. But you can't ignore it.

I wonder if the developers themselves knew what exactly they were trying to create. Is it a stealth game? a tactical strategy? a top-down arcade? Kitschy, bold artwork is only there to cover up the lack of cohesive ideas, and crude execution.

Huge pixels, old school top-down perspective, 8-bit animation and choice of colours convincingly recreate the mood of 1989 – the year Hotline Miami's story takes place in. Fortunately there's also plenty of excellent, unconventional and engaging fun for mature gamers. [CD-Action 13/2012, p.76]

Although its grim presentation and hearty challenge won't be for everybody, Hotline Miami is a rare game that articulates its own design thesis not only thoroughly, but with palpable enthusiasm. Underneath its moody graphics, stellar sound design and masterfully tuned combat is a strong feeling that this game's creators love making video games.

Hotline Miami is an odd experience. Missions flow between stealth and combat with split-second tactical choices reinforced through trial-and-error. The context for that gameplay is brutal beyond measure, though the game also provides a rare opportunity for reflection.

It only works as a whole, and it doesn't hit you like a flavour; it builds up in your system like an intravenous solution. If you took away the masks, or the blinking colours, or knocking over guys with doors, or the stuff about answerphone messages, or the DeLorean, or the wobble on the screen, or the super-fast movement, or walking back through what you've just done, you probably wouldn't understand why it stopped working, but it would definitely stop working.

Sometimes, videogames are thought of as a means of escapism into worlds and universes you always wanted to immerse yourself and spend your time in, but in reality never could. I truly hope I never encounter someone who thinks this way about Hotline Miami.

Gore, violence and blood have never been so beautiful like in this "new" 8-bit game. Hotline Miami is pure gameplay, addictive and thrilling like no other. With an incredibly intriguing storytelling and a stunning techno-electronic OST powered by Jasper Byrne, Dennaton's game shouldn't be missed for any reason.

Despite a few bugs the game plays so intense it at times feels like it's playing in your mind and not on your screen. It will make you feel really badass one second, only to disgust you with its over-the-top violence in the next. A few strange design choices interrupt the flow but all in all, Hotline Miami is a special experience not to be missed.

Not only is Hotline a shoe-in for Indie of the Year, it represents a masterful, artistic achievement that generates equal parts frustration, enjoyment and addiction, and therefore comes highly recommended.

If you're worried about getting your $10 worth of gameplay out of Hotline, don't be. I would have paid at least twice the price for the game as is. With the promise of more levels, I can't see anyone being upset about the value of the game.

Let's just say it: Hotline Miami isn't for everyone. It's brutal, bloody and extraordinarily unforgiving. Thanks to Hotline Miami, the 8-bit top-down shooter genre gets put in the spotlight again after Retro City Rampage. It deserves the attention. Well, if you can stomach countless retries and a dozen smashed skulls.

The combination of simple graphics, terrific soundtrack, grotesque violence, creepy and nightmarish atmosphere, and the blistering fast and demanding gameplay makes Hotline Miami one of the best action games we've played in ages. Buy it. Buy it now.

Hotline Miami is proof that it is possible to create a fresh and addictive action game, even with the game's emphasis on retro. At the same time it evokes truly human feelings the modern-day shooters die trying to deliver.

While it may lack a certain technical finesse, Hotline Miami manages to take players down a road not many games do. It's as much fun to play through the game as it is edifying to reflect on what we've done, and for that, it is quite powerful.

For all the careful planning that might go in a stickup, it all usually comes down to clutching out impromptu, split second shootouts. Sometimes these quirks manifest as incompetent A.I. behavior or exploitative gameplay, but for the most part, it all congeals in a remarkably tense and satisfying experience with depth to go with its style.

Enjoying Hotline Miami doesn't make you a worse person, though you may find yourself wrestling with just why the act of deftly delivered murder is so damn much fun. It is because it's a lovingly crafted game, well-designed and deeply addictive.

If you're of age, buy Hotline Miami. It's a great, emotionally heavy game with superb mechanics. It's a bit expensive and offers only a few hour of fun, but it's worth the price for the opportunity to ponder on man's nature. I wouldn't mind, if it was longer. You could appreciate simple, old school graphics, an excellent soundtrack and unique gameplay more. Still - the game's great!

There's enjoyment in the game's mechanics, in the way it hones your abilities until you're a taut, efficient, angel of death, but little joy to be found in the unraveling of your subconscious and the consequences of your new-found talents.

Hotline Miami is a gift for those who are willing to enjoy the old-arcade essence of the 8 and 16 bits era. Furthermore, the gameplay mechanics are superb and the strong 80ish atmosphere adds to a really twisted travel.

From the get-go, Miami’s presentation has a unique style, with vivid colors, generous amounts of post-process filtering and a stunning soundtrack (you will just let the game play on, only to hear the tracks). But at the same time, all notions of continuous fast-paced action gameplay disappear. Hotline Miami is essentially a top-down stealth game, that rewards the player with imaginative (and quite violent) kill animations. [January 2013]

Hotline Miami is a gem of a game. It has satisfying gameplay, an atmosphere that is both disturbing and gripping, and it provokes thoughts like no other game this year. What more could you want? [Dec 2012]

Hotline Miami is the rare breed of game that feels as smart as it is bloody. It is unabashedly gratuitous, but there's a context to its mayhem that escapes most ultra-violent operas. There's really nothing quite like it: its unique blend of tactics, tension and a cracked-out fiction bleed together to form a coherent experience that is equal parts cool and disturbing.

A weird experience, short, unique and disturbing. A mix of action and strategy that will absorb you and won't let you stop until you finish it. Not for everyone, but absolutely recommended for those players looking for something new.

Hotline Miami is just as fun as it is punishing, that is to say that it's a whole lot of both. It's a top-down fmup (think shmup butHotline Miami is just as fun as it is punishing, that is to say that it's a whole lot of both. It's a top-down fmup (think shmup but extremely brutal) with a pretty heavy tactical element to it that keeps you thinking about how to approach every situation more and more efficiently each time you die--and you'll die an awful lot. Any enemy can kill you or knock you out in one hit, so you'll be trying one idea, failing, and then refining that idea a few times until you have that glorious satisfaction of overcoming all the odds against you. The level design is pretty complex and the enemies are varied enough that the trial-and-error gameplay doesn't become stale. There is almost always a genuine challenge (apart from two absolutely ridiculous boss battles and a pretty cheap stealth segment), making the "trial" in "trial-and-error" something really, really compelling. The AI isn't great at picking up on signs that you're in their midst, but if it was, the game would probably be absolutely impossible. The campaign follows a narrative that isn't very strong, but it's definitely something interesting. It complements the stressful gameplay with some really weird hallucinations that actually make you wonder what the hell is actually going on, and then, even though it's not very complex, it ties up loose ends in a pretty fascinating way. The graphics, despite the really ugly face drawings, are stylish and give off an extremely eighties vibe, though there are no options to turn off some features like screen sway, which will probably end up hurting the game's accessibility. The real aesthetic star is the soundtrack, though. For 2012, it's one of the absolute best game soundtracks, right up there with Vessel. Because of its extreme challenge, Hotline Miami is probably not a game for most people, but it's extremely good at what it does, and despite a few caveats it's one of the best games this year.…Full Review »

INDIE GAME OF THE YEAR FTW, Great music soundtrack, Brilliantine gritty knife throwing game play, engading and interesting story, AN ORIGINALINDIE GAME OF THE YEAR FTW, Great music soundtrack, Brilliantine gritty knife throwing game play, engading and interesting story, AN ORIGINAL CONCEPT DIFFIDENTLY WORTH ALL YOUR MONEYS…Full Review »

Excellent game. The tension, the artistry, the speed, the strategy... A commendable and highly artistic rendation and critique of violence inExcellent game. The tension, the artistry, the speed, the strategy... A commendable and highly artistic rendation and critique of violence in popular media and an immense retro throwback make this game an instant cult hit. Granted, it's not for everyone but if you like vintage, tongue in cheeck humor and the 80's... go play it!…Full Review »